Release date: May 1, 2017
Subgenre: Epic fantasy, Asian fantasy
About Prelude to Insurrection:
Only an orphan half-elf spy can avert a rebellion before it starts.
Jie’s superior senses have made her the perfect lookout. Now, as the adopted daughter of the Black Lotus Clanmaster, she wants to prove her pointed ears aren’t a liability when she’s tasked to infiltrate a rebel lord’s castle.
In this prequel novelette to Songs of Insurrection, Jie must decide between her duty to the emperor and her sense of compassion toward the downtrodden. No matter her choice, it will have explosive consequences for her, the realm, and the upcoming war.
Jie’s superior senses have made her the perfect lookout. Now, as the adopted daughter of the Black Lotus Clanmaster, she wants to prove her pointed ears aren’t a liability when she’s tasked to infiltrate a rebel lord’s castle.
In this prequel novelette to Songs of Insurrection, Jie must decide between her duty to the emperor and her sense of compassion toward the downtrodden. No matter her choice, it will have explosive consequences for her, the realm, and the upcoming war.
Excerpt:
Jie’s eyes stung. The duel had nearly claimed her fingers, but
she’d finally vanquished the last of the onions. Just in time, too,
as Lord Shi’s seven-year-old son, Ren, reached for the platter of
candies. He tripped over a rock and stumbled toward the roasting
pig in the fire pit. With a sweep of her hand, she caught him by
his silk sleeve, avoiding an unsavory addition to dinner.
The servants’ collective gasp might’ve sucked all the air from the
outdoor kitchen.
Nursemaid Lan covered her mouth in a silent scream. When she
finally found her voice, her tone straddled anger and relief.
“Sneaking out again? If you don’t behave, Young Lord, the Black
Fists will kidnap you and turn you into a sneak-thief.”
Jie buried a snicker. Frustrated mothers leveled the same empty
threat in every home throughout the realm. Never had an unruly
child been spirited away in the middle of the night by the
boogieman.
As the adopted daughter of the Black Lotus clan master, she’d know.
After all, most Black Fists were orphans like her; and rather than
becoming thieves, they served as the Emperor’s spies, defending the
realm from threats the citizenry would never know about.
Threats like Ren’s father, Lord Shi.
She straightened the wailing brat’s embroidered green robes. The
only thing the pudgy kid could defend the realm from was the
legions of sweets he vanquished. She knelt down and pressed his
next conquest—a sugar pastry—into his palm. With only the rebukes
of the Black Lotus masters to draw on, she summoned her most
mothering voice. “No bones broken, no tendons torn, you’re okay.”
Either her words and gentle tone had soothed him, or maybe the
candy could take credit. The lordling grinned with fat cheeks. Bits of tongue pressed through the gaps in the lines of enameled
soldiers. His adult teeth might never replenish his ranks for his war of
attrition against sweets.
After all, he’d likely die in the imperial army’s surprise assault.
Amazon
About J.C. Kang:
JC Kang's unhealthy obsession with Fantasy and Sci-Fi began at an
early age when his brother introduced him to The Chronicles of Narnia,
The Hobbit, Star Trek and Star Wars. As an adult, he combines his geek
roots with his professional experiences as a Chinese Medicine doctor,
martial arts instructor and technical writer to pen multicultural epic
fantasy stories.
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